Young people, women and workers in less secure jobs were the first to face mass layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada’s March jobs report, with more than six in 10 lost jobs having been held by a woman.

Altogether, Canadians lost more than 1 million jobs in March, in the first labour force survey from the agency capturing the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s employment market.

The unemployment rate rose by 2.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent, the highest level since October 2010, when the country was crawling out of the Great Recession. The jump is the largest one-month increase since comparable data became available in 1976.

The number of Canadians who were considered unemployed increased by 413,000, also the largest monthly change since 1976.

However, Thursday’s report does not capture a final picture for March, as the survey was conducted during the week of March 15 to 21.

Since the start of that week, more than 5 million Canadians have applied for federal income support, Treasury Board President Jean Yves-Duclos said Thursday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said Wednesday that the release of the numbers would be a “hard day for the country,” told a daily news conference this morning that “stark as those numbers are, they aren’t a surprise for a lot of Canadians.”

“Each one represents a different story, a worker who’s been laid off, a family that’s having to hunker down, a community that’s anxious about today and tomorrow,” he said.

The figures also show that employees that did not work any hours during the week increased by 1.3 million people, while around 800,000 Canadians saw their hours reduced by at least half.

As a result, the total number of Canadians who were affected by either job loss or reduced hours totalled 3.1 million. Statistics Canada found that absences from work were eight times greater than what was observed during the 1998 ice storm, the closest comparison when measuring hours lost.

“The number of people who were absent all week without pay may be an indication of future job losses,” the agency said.

The report also suggests job losses are skewed heavily toward Canada’s youth, women and workers in “less secure, lower-quality jobs.” Many of the jobs lost were part-time and temporary work.

For women in the core working ages of 25 to 54, employment dropped by 298,500 or five per cent, more than twice that of men. Altogether, women held 633,100 of the more than one million lost jobs, and were more likely to see a reduction in hours worked compared to men.

Among younger Canadians aged 15 to 24, 392,500 lost their jobs, the fastest decline across the three main age groups.

The number of workers in temporary jobs decreased by 14.5 per cent, 274,900 jobs in total. Decreases were led by those in casual employment, which saw 136,000 jobs shed.

Statistics Canada also observed that those not covered by a union or collective agreement were more likely to lose all or a majority of their usual work hours.

“This is a service sector story,” said Sheila Block, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), of Thursday’s numbers. “We know that often service sector jobs are low paid jobs, they’re more often occupied by marginalized workers.

“These are the folks that have the least security and the least safety net to take them through it.” Block said recessions typically hit goods producers hard, but the pandemic-induced downturn has especially hurt service sectors.

Unsurprisingly, the largest employment declines were recorded in industries including accommodation and food services, which saw employment dip by almost 24 per cent; information, culture and recreation, which saw employment fall by 13.3 per cent; and education services, which saw 9.1 per cent fewer jobs.

These sectors involve more public-facing activities and limited ability to work from home.

Block noted from a previous CCPA study she authored that a disproportionate number of workers in accommodation and food are racialized, a factor not captured by Statistics Canada. A separate analysis from the think tank Thursday also found one third of low wage workers making $14 and hour or less either lost jobs or a majority of their hours.

She said since the survey, public health measures have broadened and more Canadians have absorbed what is happening — a factor given the agency’s numbers rely on self-reporting — so the tally of job losses and hours reduced will only grow.

“I do think (today) is the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

Job losses were also felt across most provinces, with Ontario shedding 403,000 jobs, Quebec losing 264,000, British Columbia seeing a decline of 132,000, and Alberta losing 117,000.

Canadians out of the labour force increased by 644,000. Out of those workers, 219,000 had worked recently and wanted a job but did not search for one, likely entirely due to COVID-19. If this group were counted as unemployed, the adjusted unemployment rate would be 8.9 per cent.

Statistics Canada warned that employment drops will have an impact on Canada’s economy going forward.

“It is expected that the sudden employment decline observed in March will have a significant effect on the performance of the Canadian economy over the coming months,” said the report.

The agency also said it is retooling to collect and publish numbers related to the pandemic faster and more frequently.